Romans and Reivers Route
Fifty-two miles across the Southern Uplands from Ae Forest to Hawick, on old Roman and drove roads through Reivers country
Indicative — sampled from open terrain data along the simplified route.
The Romans and Reivers Route runs 52 miles (84 km) across the Southern Uplands, from the Forest of Ae in Dumfriesshire east to Hawick in the Scottish Borders. It follows a mix of old Roman roads, forest tracks, drove roads and quiet lanes through the hill country between the two, and is built as a multi-use trail, so it is walked, cycled and ridden. Most people take three days over it, in stages of roughly even length between Ae, Beattock and Eskdalemuir.
The route keeps to sheltered ground for much of the way — forestry and river valley rather than open summit — with some more exposed farmland in between. It is easy going by the standards of the region, with self-closing gates for horses and bikes, but it crosses genuinely empty country, and there are long stretches with no village. The middle passes through Eskdalemuir, a scattered upland parish better known for the Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Samye Ling nearby.
The name points to two layers of history the path draws on. The Romans built the roads that first crossed these hills; the Border Reivers were the raiding families who ran cattle and feuded across this frontier country between the 14th and 17th centuries, the same trade the drove roads later carried in peace.
At Beattock the route connects with the Annandale Way, and near Hawick it links to the Cross Borders Drove Road, so it can be joined into longer journeys through southern Scotland. Hawick, at the eastern end, is the largest town on the route and the easiest place to start or finish.
